For my son's youth baseball team, recreational league, ages 13 - 15, which I manage, we have been using six of these size 120 balls, along with a dozen of the smaller size 74 Total Control balls in practices and in pre-game warm-ups. We use a bounce net positioned over the plate (or over an imaginary plate if used off the diamond) with the coach standing opposite the batter and giving a light toss of the ball downward onto the bounce net and then stepping back out of the way. The player then hits the ball as it comes down from the top of its bounce. We find this method far superior to hitting off a tee, since the player must time his swing to hit the ball as it descends, similar to an incoming pitch. Also, the size 120 balls are too heavy to be supported on a tee in any event. When hitting off the bounce net, the size 120 balls usually can be hit only about ten feet maximum, requiring a full body swing from the player, not just an arm swing. For each player we give swings at six of the large balls and we then use the dozen size 74 balls, urging the players to use the same powerful swing. The smaller balls can go about sixty feet in the air when hit solidly, though only a few feet if not hit perfectly, giving instant feedback on poor contact, usually because of poorly timed swings. Not much space is required for use in practice and in pre-game warm-ups, and even for use during games for batters who are "in the hole" for batting, that is, one spot behind the on-deck hitter. I also use both sizes of these balls with my thirteen-year-old son in our backyard practices, giving him three rounds of the same routine, for fifty-four swings in a practice, with him trying to hit the small balls to roll as far as our fence, about seventy feet away. Three rounds with these balls are enough for a strenuous workout for him, but require only about twenty minutes. During bad weather my son and I also use the balls in our basement, with him hitting against a tarp suspended from the ceiling, though that method lacks the feedback benefit of seeing how far the ball will travel. Our team's hitting seems to have improved significantly since we started using these balls in practices and for pre-game and in-game warm-ups. We are an all-boys team, but the same practice approach should also work for girls playing baseball or softball, since the swing mechanics should be similar. For a bounce net I use one that came with the Skilz QuickSwing, though I had to reinforce that net with several other regular bungee cords, since it is not designed for these heavy Total Control balls. Skilz does not sell the bounce net separately. Using a small child's trampoline might be another type of bounce net which could work.
